The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-07
THE sr. LAWRENCE.

NuI Htntukt VI tHt lONtiJ hlCuo-
lieu is now made, and with a fine
breeze blowing fresh from the south
we ly out OF its narrow mouth al
Sorel and sweep into the noble ST.
Lawrence-to me II seems the no
blcst river Of the continent. The
Mississippi is longer by far, aud
wider, but il is a muddy. ohangeablc
stream, the home Of snakes aud oh
noxious reptiles, aud OF foul MAS
mas which breed feyers aud death.
But the st. Lawrence is 1900 miles
in length, its hoadwaters hrc in great
inland seas. Niagara is on il, and
the Thousand Islands, and rapids
many aud white, and though more
than one. third OF all the fresh water
on the globo is poured annually down
the stream, still 40 vast and roomy is
IL that the droughts Of summer can
not shrink il. nor the floods Of spring
time, fed by all the SHOWS OF its vast
northern watershed. swell il eight
inches from It's average. Truly this
il an impressive fact aud gives be-
yond what words OF mine can do a
measure Of its noble size aud msjcs-
tic capacity. It's history is the his.
tory oi American discovery, for, save
in tho brave failure OF DeSoio,
aud the attempts OF Ponce
10 Leon from the south, there
q not-the Hudson excepted
a single large river or lake or endur-
ing settlement, discovered or made
that IN not connected with the vt.
Lawrence and the early explorers
that trayerscd IL going southwark
aud westward. Aud a. | hold the
helm OF the yacht as she goes flying
along, the narrow channel that runs
through tho wide, shallow cxpanse
OF the Lake st. Peter, every sail
drawing the bubbles on the Ice rail,
aud the reel showing eleven knots IL
speed, my mind goes back 10 the old
days, aud the old discoveries and OK
plorers OF this Western Continent,
which was we'll known aud lived on
by white Christian men four hun
dred years before Columbus was
born aud ~ the records, 10 my mind.
hundreds Of years before our Lord
was born al Bethlehem. For the
mouth Of
ANTIQUITY
was not silent in respect TO this
Western world OF ours. Hosiod,
with his finger on the sounding chord
sang OF the gardens of the Hesper
idcs aud poured his prophetic song
out into the otherwise stirloss gloom
that hung darkly oyef the western
sea. Plate, 10 hultloss prose, told
the story Of Atlantis, that mythical
island, far beyond the Pillars Of Her.
culcs, a. his ancestor, Scion, had
received IL from the lips Of the old
Esytian priests OF Sais, who held
for truth, beyond doubt, what mod
ern Swans, because OF their ignor
anco perhape, have looked upon AZ q
myth aud mythical oatas-
trophc. The Phonioian ilor.
swote that their eyes had seen a fair
and lovely country lying low down
IN tho western waves, aud Carthag.
MAN mariners Endorsed the story
and declared that their prows had
touched the golden sands of un.
known idands 10 unknown seas,
whose airs were soft aud sweet with
breath OF spice aud BALM Aud
Pythcas, a sailor Of old Greece. in
she time OF Alexander the Great
told 10 the wondering Mediterranean
gosgipg of "A country living la tha
North aud West beyond the confines
Of the world, whose shores wcrc
solid ice aud whose men were clothed
like animals. And MAdoo, Of Wales
so say the bsrds-brought back
from voyages strange stories of
strange lands beyond the sunset, and
sailing forth again with many ships
aud men, came not back =
neither he, his ships nor his
men. but were swallowed up by
monsters sunk beneath the kioiul